The first Operation Exit of the summer has claimed the lives of 11 people, who have died on the roads this weekend. This figure is one more than on the same dates last year, according to the balance provided on Monday by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT). The accidents took place between three o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, June 30 and twelve o'clock at night on Sunday, July 2. The highest figure was recorded on Saturday, July 1 with eight deaths, including the mayor of Zuera (Zaragoza, 8,365 inhabitants) and president of the Aragonese Federation of Municipalities, Counties and Provinces (FAMCP), Luis Zubieta, who was run over while cycling on the N-330, in the municipality of Gurrea de Gállego, in the province of Huesca.
Four of the deceased were "vulnerable users", according to the Traffic report, three motorists and a cyclist. According to data recently provided at a conference by the general director of the DGT, Pere Navarro, vulnerable users accounted for 50% of fatalities (874) in 2022. Last year, 437 motorcyclists died in traffic accidents: they were 6% less than in 2019, but they worry the DGT. "Attention with motorcyclists. One in four deaths last year was on a motorcycle," Navarro said. Regarding the cause of the accidents, seven were due to departure from the road – a type of accident that accounted for almost half of the deaths (42%) in 2022 – and four due to collision. Nine of the accidents occurred on conventional roads and the remaining two on highways or highways.
In Catalonia, two people died in two traffic accidents on Sunday, one in the municipality of Castelló d'Empúries (Gerona), and another on the AP-7 as it passes through Freginals (Tarragona). In the first, the firefighters had to remove the fatal victim and several injured people who were trapped in the vehicle after it fell into the canal of the municipality of Alt Empordà. In the second accident, which took place hours later, at seven in the morning, on the other side of Catalonia, a car went off the road and overturned. The passenger in the passenger seat died while the driver was critically injured.
The traditional awareness campaign of the DGT for this summer has focused on alcohol, a factor that has increased among drivers involved in fatal traffic accidents last year. Under the slogan "When you kill someone on the road, you kill them every day of your life", the campaign shows how risky behavior can change a life forever because of the feeling of guilt generated by causing a traffic accident that leaves dead or injured.
They only saw each other once, but Lolo became the most important person in Cristina's life because when you kill someone on the road, you kill them #TodosLosDíasDeTuVida. This is his story. #ConvivirConLaCulpa pic.twitter.com/FLyae8RhdM
— Dir. Gral. Tráfico (@DGTes) June 28, 2023
The number of long-distance journeys recorded during this first operation out of the summer was 4.6 million movements, which is 5.8% more than the actual movements recorded in the first operation of the summer last year. In total, the DGT forecasts 95 million long-distance journeys during July and August – 45.6 million in the first month and 49.3 million in the second – 1.75% more than the previous year and the highest figure ever expected.